Last night, after dinner, Jaysen decided he wanted to go to Texas. Yes, right at that moment. He scampered outside to find a stick. Yes, a stick...maybe it's a Texan thing? Why Texas? I can only hazard a guess that it may have something to do with Sandy from Spongebob being from Texas.

While I did the dishes, he played quietly in his room. When I peeked in on him, I noticed he had a blanket spread out on the bed, and was carefully positioning his video tapes on the blanket.

He continued this for quite awhile.

He eventually emerged from his room dragging his suitcase, and carrying the blanket (with video tapes inside) over his shoulder. He asked me if I would help him attach the blanket to the stick. It was tough to do with a straight face considering the blanket was bulging with videos, and his stick was little more than a twig.

We went outside to find a better stick.

Once the "bag" was secure on the stick, he hoisted it over his shoulder, grabbed his suitcase, and said he was off for Texas. He had his VHS tapes in the "vagabond bag" and his DVD's in his suitcase. He was set.

Me: "Jaysen, are you running away?"

J: "No...just going to Texas."

Me: "Oh, okay. That's good. Did you know that Texas is really far away?"

J: "Really really far?"

Me: "Yeah, really really far."

J: "That's okay. You can drive me there."

Me: "Oooh...I don't have enough gas in the tank to drive there."

J: (I can see the wheels turning...) "I know! You can drive me to the airport."

So we went on about how he doesn't have money for a plane ticket, blah, blah, blah... we ended up in my car again- he insisted that I drive him to Texas.

He wanted to go to Texas to be at the "beautiful salty beach".

Where would he live? At the beach.

What would he eat? McDonald's and pizza.

How would he pay for his food? With money.

Where was he going to get the money? From his pocket. (note to self: check Jaysen's pockets before laundry-day)

Sounded like a plan, so I jumped in the seat and pretended to drive, looking at all of the super-cool imaginary mountains and rivers along the way.

Jaysen was looking at me like I was thirteen different kinds of crazy. He was less than amused.

When he realized that we, in fact, were not actually going to Texas, he started to lose it. Meltdown approaching. I desperately tried reasoning with him, but once he's at a certain level, your best option is damage control, not reason.

I told him that although we were not going to Texas, we were going on a "Mystery Trip" next weekend, and it was going to be very cool. And far away. Just like Texas. Only not Texas.

I did manage to get a good portion of this whole deal on video, but I don't know if I'll be able to download it. Upload? Crap- I'm so technologically impaired. If I can get someone else to do it, I will. I would also love to know how he decided which tapes would make the trip with him, and which ones would have to stay home. Interesting.
My little aspiring world traveler.